Mumbai International Queer Film Fest takes the help of social media to raise funds

Kashish 2012 Poster

Mumbai: Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival – India’s biggest queer film fest –is turning to the social media phenomenon of crowd funding to raise finances. This is the first time in India that a film festival is attempting to raise funds through crowd funding, which the organisers say is aimed at keeping the festival free for audiences.

“The idea for crowd funding KASHISH was more of a necessity, because with no government support and not too many corporates yet enthused about supporting a queer event, we felt it was time to involve the community,” says Sridhar Rangayan, Festival Director. “The film festival is a not-for-profit event and one of few festivals of its kind in the world that does not charge ticket prices or a registration fee. We are committed to keep the festival free this year too and to achieve this we thought what better way than crowd funding,” adds Rangayan.

Crowd-funding is an emerging trend across the world where an individual or an organisation pitches an idea/ venture that requires funding and sources the funds by reaching out through social media. India has already been part of the trend – with funds being raised through crowd finding for a variety of causes from social initiatives to Bollywood films“Over the last few years crowd funding has proved extremely successful in raising resources for alternative ventures that are at the fringes when it comes to attracting mainstream sponsors,” says Pallav Patankar, festival director. “With Kashish, our aim is to reach out across platforms, in India or anywhere in the world; so that people feel like they are part of the festival and support the cause.”

Kashish has signed up with internet portal Wishberry.in to provide a payment gateway for the crowd funding venture. To ensure that `Everyone can Contribute’, Kashish has put in place online as well as offline modes of contribution – from credit cards, to cheques and even cash payment. For potential contributors there are incentives galore in the form of exclusive Kashish merchandise and reserved seats for special invite only events during the festival.